Tejada can swing the stick, sure, but it’s his glove that’s valuable

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Despite declining range and advancing age, Tejada is still a serviceable shortstop at 36 years old. Still reasonably sure-handed. Still armed like an artillery piece. And, on balance, still better than anything in the Padres’ pipeline.

Banished to third base this spring in Baltimore, Tejada has been able to reprise his most familiar role with the Padres and without looking like a liability. He is a temporary band-aid who has earned a shot to stick.

“We got him to be a veteran bat, a presence in the lineup,” Padres manager Bud Black said Thursday afternoon. “We discussed the options: left field, third base, second. Then we put him at short and we watched just to see what we had.

“I think we found soon enough that he was making plays. He was making plays that needed to be made … The guy is a shortstop in his mind. What I noticed after about the first week was that he looked comfortable.”

“I feel,” Tejada said, “like I can get to any ball that anybody hits.”

Tejada has committed two errors in 49 games with the Padres, and if he has missed a few balls he might once have reached, he has compensated by knocking other balls beyond everyone’s reach. His two-run homer Wednesday night was his eighth as a Padre and the 300th of his career, and it proved to be the decisive blow in the Padres’ 3-1 victory over the Dodgers.

Thursday, Tejada had a single and an RBI groundout in the Padres’ 3-1 loss to the Dodgers. Next to Adrian Gonzalez, he has become the Padres’ most consistent threat.

The Padres’ doubts were about his defense.

“There was an adjustment when he first came here of getting back the legs of playing short,” said Padres coach Glenn Hoffman. “Now, his instincts are like they were when he was playing there every day.

“You can still see the thinking, the actions, how to set up. He’s going back to the basics of how he played short. He gets to the ball. He moves his feet well. And his arm makes up for the ones that he might not quite get his legs under him.”

Credit Gonzalez with foresight on this front. Shortly after Tejada’s acquisition was announced, A-Gon said concerns about his diminished range were overstated because the ability of Padres’ pitchers to hit their spots created a premium on positioning as opposed to lateral movement.

Reminded of Gonzalez’s analysis Thursday afternoon, Hoffman pulled a piece of paper from his back pocket that listed the Padres’ preferred defensive positioning for each Dodgers hitter. Hoffman’s “cheat sheet” is the product of detailed spray charts and the Padres’ specific pitching plan for individual hitters. Armed with that information, a seasoned player like Tejada can then shift a step or two to adjust to the type of pitch being thrown.

“Our guys are very seldom in the wrong spot,” Black said. “If a ball is hit hard and beats him, that’s because it beats him. We think we do a (good) job to get our players positioned right and the instincts of the player really comes into bear with (someone like) Tejada.”

Even as the Orioles prepared to redeploy him as a third baseman, Tejada continued to take ground balls at shortstop and worked with a personal trainer to maintain maximum flexibility.

“I really had it in my mind I could still play short,” Tejada said. “I was training in the offseason to keep my legs really strong, to keep in good shape just in case somebody needs me to play short.

“That’s my natural position. I prepare myself every day to be able to play shortstop.”

Eligible for free agency at season’s end, Tejada’s stated preference is to stay put. Given the stagnant state of Everth Cabrera’s development, the free agency of David Eckstein and Jerry Hairston Jr., and their persistent payroll limitations, the Padres may be in need of multiple middle infielders before Opening Day 2011.

“He’s been valuable,” Bud Black said of Tejada. “I think (keeping him) is definitely worth discussion as we move into the winter.”

“I would love to stay here,” Tejada said. “I love to play with the young guys. I love this team. But at the same time, I don’t want to go too far. Right now, I’m enjoying the moment. I enjoy the situation right now and I try to take it one day at a time.”

Obliged to look ahead, the Padres should recognize that they look better with Miguel Tejada.